System for handling coal, ashes, and the like



June 23, 1925.

W. E. HALE SYSTEM FOR HANDLING COAL; ASHES, AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 9, 1923 Patented June 23, 1925.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

WiLLIAM n. HALE, or refer WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIG'NOR T 12.. H.

BEAUMONT 00., or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A coaroanrron or PENN- SYLVANIA.-

SYSTEM FOR HANDLING GOAL, ASHES, AND THE LIKE.

Application filed November To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. HALE, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Fort (Vashingtom in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful System for Handling Coal, Ashes, and the like, of which the following is a specification. r

The principal object of I the present invention is to facilitate and make certain the proper operation of such a system in such a way that material elevated by a skip hoist will be conveyed and dumped by a car without undue accumulation of material and without the car running empty. Otherwise stated, the object of the invention is to coordinate the electrical operation of a car running on a horizontal track with a hopper which dumps into the car, which receives material from the skip hoist, and which, when empty, interrupts the operation of the car until it is refilled by the skip hoist.

Generally stated, the invention may be said to comprise a system for handling coal, ashes and the like comprising in combination a skip hoist, a car, a track on which the car runs and which is provided with car dumping means, a hopper adapted to receive material from the skip hoist to store it and to dump it into the car, control circuits for running the car out and in on the track, and a contact responsive to absence of coal in the hopper and adapted to interrupt the outgoing control circuit with the car in loading position.

The invention further comprises the improvements to be presently described and finally claimed.

In the following description reference will be made to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof and in which there is illustrated an embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a diagrammatic and schematic view illustrating in elevation parts of a skip hoist, a car running on rails, and a hopper between the two, and

Fig. 2 is a diagram explanatory of the operation of the car and hopper.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, a is a skip hoist having a bucket b which is automatically loaded, elevated and made to dump into the hopper 0. An automatically operated skip hoist is too well understood to 9, 1923. Serial No. 673,693.

require detail description or illustration. 0! is a car electrically propelled out from load ing to dumping position and back automatically on the track 6. When in loading position means as a projection f on the car opens the gate 9 of the hopper c, which gate is self-closing as by gravity. h is a device in the nature of a hump placed along the track appropriately for opening the gate is,

of the car 65 which gate 70 is self closing. 9 and 10 are limit switches included in the control circuit for the car cl and arranged at the limits of its travel to be operated by the .car. The control circuits will now be described:

The motor M when at rest causes the car J to be at rest and when the motor M runs in one direction the car (Z runs in one direc: tion, and. when the motor M runs in the other direction the car 03 travels in the other direction. which these results are accomplished form no part of the present invention, will be understood by those skilled in the art, and

need no illustration or specific description.

F and R are circuit closers of the type which is provided with interlocks and'they operate F to run the car. forward or to cause the car to run forward from loading to dumping positions, and R to run the car from dumping'or to cause the car to run from dumping to loading positions. 00, 1/ and z is the line. From 3 the motor path may be traced by 1, and thence by 2 and 3, and thence either by 41 and 5 or 6 and 7 to m and 2 according as the contacts 9 or 8 of F or R are closed. When the car is traveling in from dumping to loading positions, the circuit may be traced from 00, by 7, 11, 9 (it be ing understood that the car puts switch 9 in the upper position which is not the one shown in the drawing) 12, R, 13, 14:, 1 to y.

The dashpot contact 25 is open because coil 15 in branch circuit 16 (across 12 and 14) is The connections by means of.

energized. As car 65 leaves the outward' limit of its travel and starts back to loading position, switch 9 is closed as shown in the drawing. Switch 10 is closed, that is in the position shown in the drawing, it having been left closed when the car d left loading position on the previous trip. As car cl starts to travel in, switch 9 opens at 9*, de-

energizing coil 15, but interlock 17 on It keeps it energized by Way of 11, 18, 19, 10

20 to 12. Approaching loading position car at opens and breaks the circuit last described at 10*, Clo-energizing R and making circuit from 1, by 21, F, 22, 23, 24, if closed by supply of coal in hopper 0, contacts 25 of A, 26, 10 18, 11 to 7. The result is thatthe car starts out after such an interval as is provided by the dashpot device A, which interval is sutlicient for loading. If, however, there is no coal or an insufficient supply of coal in the hopper 0, the switch 24 remains open and the car remains in loading position until the skip bucket b supplies addierations takes place.

tional coal at first into the car where it accumulates until it reaches the hopper and closes the switch 24. Then the car starts out and the gate 9 closes automatically. As

the car starts out contact 10 of switch 10 is.

opened but the interlock 2(3 maintains F energized by 27, 28, 9, 18 and 11 to 7, un til at outward end of run the car opens 9 Thereafter a repetition of the described op It will be understood that when R is energized the contacts 8 are closed and when F is energized the contacts at 9 are closed and also that the interlocks 17 and 26 have the same effect on the contacts 9 and 8 as does the energization of F and B. As shown the switch 24, or more accurately, the movable element a of it, is a spring pressed flap pivoted in the hopper wall and operated to close the switch by the weight of coal or other material in the hopper, so that when the hopper is empty the switch 24 is open, as indicated in Fig. 1.

From the foregolng descriptlon 1t Wlll be understood that the skip bucket automati' cally travels up and down dumping material into the hopper 0, and that the car (Z is automatically propelled out and in receiving material from the hopper and dumping it at an appropriate point out on the track and that if for any reason the supply of ma terial to the hopper should fail the car automatically remains in loading posltion until the supply of material in the hopper is replenished and then automatically resumes its journey;

The term coal, ashes and the like is intended to include any material capable of being handled by the described apparatus.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates that the latter is not limited as to mere'matters of form or details of arrangement and construction or otherwise than as the prior art and the appended claims may require.

I claim:

1. A system for handling coal, ashes and the like including in combination a skip hoist, a car, a track on which the car runs and which is provided with car dumping means, a hopper adapted to receive material from the skip hoist and to store it and to dump it into the car, control circuits for running the car out and inon the track, and a contact responsive to the supply of coal in the hopper and interposed in and adapted to interrupt the outgoing control circuit with the car in loading position.

2. A system for handling coal, ashes, and the like including in combination a skip hoist, a car, a track on which the'car runs and which is provided with car dumping means, a hopper adapted to receive material from the skip hoist and to store it and to dump it into the car, control circuits for running the car out and in on thetrack, reversing switches disposed in spaced relation along the track and adapted to be operated by the car to start the same out and in from loading position, and a hopper switch disposed in series relation. with the reversing switch which sends the car out, and which hopper switch is adapted to nullify the operation of that reversing switch in response to depletion of the contents of the hopper.

\VILLIAM E. HALE. 

